PORT ST. LUCIE — Even on a day when Amed Rosario didn’t play, he managed to impress Terry Collins.

“He loves to play,” the manager said after the Mets played to a 5-5 tie with the Tigers on Thursday at First Data Field. “I told him I’d give him the day off, and he was over on Field 7 and ran down balls in center field the entire BP. He loves to be out there.’’

Rosario is 7-for-22 this spring, but the Mets’ current shortstop isn’t ready to give up his spot just yet.

Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits — and was picked off — against Detroit. He made a nice play to get Nick Castellanos on a grounder up the middle to end the top of the first.

Cabrera said he hasn’t seen Rosario play in a game in person yet, but he said he knows what kind of prospect the 22-year-old is. And Cabrera understands there is not much he can do to stop Rosario from getting to Queens.

“That’s how baseball works,” Cabrera said. “Right now, I’m here. I hope he gets here soon, if he can help the team.”

But Cabrera, who has a club option for 2018, said he thinks he has plenty left after hitting 23 homers last season.

“I’m still young,” Cabrera said. “I’m 31. It’s not that old. I hope I can still do more here.”

Collins will enjoy watching Rosario, at least for the rest of the spring.

“He’s going to be really good,” Collins said. “There’s not a thing he cannot do. Great hands, great poise. Big power. I hope he doesn’t get too caught up in the power side.”

The regular season won’t begin for another three-plus weeks, but Jacob deGrom looks like he is set to go now.

The right-hander threw four scoreless innings, striking out four and giving up just a pair of hits.

Jacob deGromAP

His velocity issues of a year ago continue to appear to be a thing of the past, and he is focused now on touching up his changeup, which he said he strayed away from last season.

“I don’t know why I got away from it last year,” deGrom said. “Having it be my second-best pitch again is the plan.”

Collins said he thinks deGrom is healthy and the ulnar nerve issue that caused him to have surgery was more severe than deGrom said it was at the time.

“He’s looking like the guy we’ve seen a couple years ago and even the middle of last year when he had that hot streak,” Collins said. “He was all over the strike zone today. I believe the ulnar nerve situation was worse than he let on and he’s showing now he’s fine.”

Champ Stuart, an outfielder who finished last season with Double-A Binghamton, hit his first homer.

Tomas Nido, a catcher who played well for Single-A St. Lucie last season, had another hit and showed off a strong throwing arm in picking off Juan Perez after he wandered too far from second in the seventh inning. Nido was behind the plate for deGrom’s four shutout innings.

Erik Goeddel gave up two runs and a homer in an inning as he fights for one of the open spots in the bullpen.

see also

Tim Tebow didn’t play the day after making his spring training debut. That didn’t stop a crowd of about 20 fans from standing near where the major leaguers park to wait for his autograph long after Thursday’s game was over. Finally, a security guard yelled: “Tebow has left the building.”

In split-squad action Friday, Matt Harvey faces Houston at First Data Field at 1:05 p.m. with Tebow scheduled to get the start in left field for the first time.

And in Kissimmee, Fla., Zack Wheeler will make his first major league start in nearly two years after Tommy John surgery when he matches up against R.A. Dickey and the Braves at 1:10 p.m.